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Riverside Health Foundation recently donated $350,000 in support of graduate medical education at Ascension Via Christi Hospitals in Wichita — bringing its total contribution to Via Christi programs to more than $9.3 million over the past 16 years.

Riverside Health Foundation’s board of directors directed that the funds be used to support the osteopathic track of Via Christi's dually accredited Family Medicine Residency Program and its third- and fourth-year osteopathic student clinical training program.

“Over the years, the Riverside Health Foundation has been extraordinarily generous and strong supporter of our Family Medicine Residency Program,” said Mullins. Added Philip Dooley, MD, program director of Via Christi’s Family Medicine Residency: "We’re extremely grateful for that support and their ongoing partnership with us."

At Via Christi, which has one of the largest dually accredited family medicine residency programs in the country, approximately one in three osteopathic medical students who do their third- and fourth-year clinical training in Wichita stay to be a part of the residency programs each year. That helps families and communities statewide, as approximately one in two Via Christi family medicine residents choose to practice in Kansas.

“We’re pleased to continue our support of the osteopathic education and osteopathic medical students who train at Via Christi, which continues to have one of the top family medicine programs in the country,” said Randy Coonrod, chairman of the Riverside Health Foundation board.

Having a dually accredited program like Via Christi’s provides residents with the opportunity to become board-certified by both the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians and the American Osteopathic Board of Family Physicians.

“Our program helps them develop a strong foundation in osteopathic medicine as well as to a part of one of the strongest family medicine residency programs in the nation,” said Andrew Porter, DO, director of Osteopathic Medical Education for Via Christi’s medical students and family medicine residents.

Roz Hutchinson is a Wichita wife, mother and chief spoiler of six grandkids and three Chihuahuas, a die-hard women's basketball fan, and director of Communications and Public Relations for Ascension Via Christi.